Saturday, December 27, 2014

A fairly soggy day in the Ozarks, not that we actually received all that much rain -- only around three-tenths of an inch. Jo and the dogs got a little damp this morning. They got caught by a drizzle while returning home on their morning walk. Our afternoon walk was a little soggy too. Don't know if you'd call it a heavy fog or a light drizzle, but you'd get wet if you stayed out in it for a while.

Temperature fell slowly all day, but remained above freezing until almost midnight. Then, the wet steps and porch began getting slick with ice. Our forecast contained a chance of snow, but that did not happen.

I cleaned out our wood stove and rebuilt the fire among other piddling chores accomplished today.

Clouds returned. Overcast all day. Increasingly damp as the day progressed. Periods of light mist off and on during the afternoon. Light drizzle during the evening. Gusty south wind most of the day, but it backed off to moderate during the evening.

South wind is producing higher temperatures as well as increased moisture. Temperature steadily increased all day, including during the evening. High for the day was 51°F/10°C at midnight.

Cut, loaded, brought home, unloaded and stacked a small load of firewood.

I often harvest firewood from fallen trees, but I do not think there is any usable firewood in this tree. I'll leave it for the bugs and fungi.

Friday, December 26, 2014

Today was the first day we've enjoyed significant sunshine in about a week. Clear in the early AM, but clouds slowly moved back in as the day progressed.

Jo washed a load of clothes and was able to get them dried out on the clothesline in the sunshine. Underwear you can hang on racks around the wood stove. Sheets and towels are not so easily dried indoors.

Pines along our road out.

I think this cloud formation is called a mackerel or buttermilk sky, but I'm not certain.

Down near the house, a seep runs across the road, causing that section to stay wet and muddy all winter.

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Veggie garden area with large sweetgum and smaller persimmon trees growing at the edge. Were we totally hardcore gardeners, I suppose we'd cut down the trees growing so close to our garden so their roots would not grow into the garden beds, but we are "tree huggers" and just put up with the tree roots stealing nutrients from the beds.

High, thin clouds late morning and for most of the day. South wind increasing. A new cold front nearing. Should arrive Monday.

A full schedule of fall shows; meant we did no fall garden housekeeping. Jo took advantage of a nice winter afternoon to clean up the asparagus and corn beds.